EMPIRE: Part 3 of 4
Back at the ball, Edward Nigel Manchester had finished his introductory speech and was now showing off all of the new weapons he’d planned to unveil in the coming weeks, mainly better armored vehicles and weapons. But the main attraction was something he called the Project Dionysus, which was designed to supposedly detect any criminal activity, immediately alerting the Alexandros forces and GCPD. With this, he promised that the Philosopher’s reign of terror would be over within the coming days. Once his presentation had ended, Edward bowed and then disembarked the stage, as everyone in the audience entered the martinis and small talk part of the evening. Bruce tried to contact Alfred to tell him what he’d discovered, only for him to notice Edward and Max walking towards him. Max greeted Bruce and offered him a drink, happy that someone as reclusive as Bruce had the guts to make a public appearance during such trying times. Bruce reluctantly took the drink and sipped it as Max introduced him to Edward. Edward outstretched his hand in a sophisticated, dainty manner, and Bruce returned the favor, gripping and shaking a hand he’d felt punch him several times in the past 5 years. Edward remarked how much of a pleasure it was to meet the world’s richest orphan, clearly sizing him up in a not-so-subtle manner. He also commented on how beautiful Bruce’s eyes were. Upon hearing this, Bruce’s suspicions were confirmed, as he replied by saying Edward’s face was much more attractive than he had expected. Edward smiled, clearly in on the joke, all the while Max stared at them both, oblivious to the context. The two then traded hidden jabs at each other, backhandedly complimenting each other’s intelligence and physique. Eventually, Bruce asked about Edward’s Dionysus project, to which Edward explained its inner workings and how there is much more to it than meets the eye. Edward also started waving his cane as he entered his speech, waving it and playing with it as if it were a wand, highlighting his eccentric and flamboyant personality. Unfortunately, this led to him knocking Bruce’s martini glass out of his hand and splashing red wine all over his tuxedo. Edward apologized profusely and even tried to soak up the wine with a towel and table salt, all while Bruce was trying to react. Before he knew it, Edward had even ordered him an apple club soda with a tiny purple umbrella, shoving it into Bruce’s hands before walking away in embarrassment. All Max could do was say that Edward might be an odd duck, but his genius cannot be denied. More confused than anything, Bruce decided to leave early, still holding the apple club soda.
Once he got back to Wayne Manor, he looked inside his jacket and realized that Edward had slipped a tiny scrap of paper into his pocket square. After analyzing it heavily, Bruce was relieved that no tracking devices or poisons were found on it. All that was written on it was “Next time, come in proper evening wear, Handsome”. After going over it for an hour with Tim and Lee’s help, Bruce realized that Edward was telling him to come to the Iceberg lounge that night as Batman. Knowing it would undoubtedly be a trap, Bruce called for Sasha and Tim to join him, then ordered Lee and Tatsu to help break Onyx Adams out of Blackgate so she could help the Narrows, and then ordered Sandra and Cassandra to head to the Narrows and find Kate in case anything bad happened to her. A half hour later, Batman took the Batsub to the Iceberg Lounge while Robin and Bodyguard used scuba gear to swim under the mobile casino. Batman made it to the jet ski dock and found a black and green present box waiting for him.
Before he could touch it, the sides of the box collapsed, revealing another letter for him that read, “Four legs up, four legs down, soft in the middle, while hard all around. What am I?”. Figuring it out quickly, Batman sneaked his way up to Oswald’s bedroom suite for his next clue, all while avoiding the security systems. Luckily, Penguin was preoccupied with Riddler in the music hall, enjoying Music Meister’s performance for the other villains there. Batman eventually met back up with Robin and Bodyguard, who had entered through the Air ducts. After a few minutes of cramped crawling, they made it to the AC unit in Penguin’s bedroom that fed into the wall. Once inside, Batman noticed a small paper held under a drinking glass addressed to him. It read “I can make you smile, resurrect the dead, and reverse time. What am I?”. Figuring it out, the three of them scanned the room until Robin found what they were looking for: The Penguin’s expensive umbrella collection, which was hidden behind a false wall. After looking through over 150 umbrellas from various countries and eras, Batman eventually found one from Greece that was embroidered with gold key patterns. He pulled it out of its case and opened it, finding another riddle written inside that read “A golden shower, a Swan, a Masked Liar. Who am I?”. Figuring it out, Batman walked over to Penguin’s massive bookshelf and found the book meant for him: a soft-cover copy of Greek Myths. Using an old PI trick that Gordon taught him, he dropped the book on the table, opening it up to the page featuring Zeus.
Nothing was waiting for them as they all took turns analyzing it, until Robin felt some ink on the laminated pages. Realizing what was hidden, he took out a black light and found a message written in invisible ink that read “Janus would be insulted”. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to figure it out, as Penguin had been alerted to a security breach and put his bedroom on lock down, ceiling up the AC vent, and the doorway with steel bars. Thinking quickly, Robin pulled out a liquid-nitrogen spray and froze the bars into peanut brittle so they could bust through them. All three of them battled their way through every wave of Penguin’s henchmen, every last one of them falling like toy soldiers blown in the wind by fists, feet, or bow-staffs. Before long, the trio made their way to the main hall, surprising all of the villains and criminals there. It turns out that all of them had been hiding here until Mayor Tzavarus’ war with the Philosophers blew over. The Joker, The Riddler, and The Penguin sat in a large booth at the top of the room, while the others, like Catwoman, Film Freak, Calendar Man, Lady Vic, Killer Moth, Polka-Dot Man, and Mad Hatter, got up from their tables, ready for a fight. Not in the mood for this, Batman tossed a light bomb into the room that blinded everyone long enough so they could escape. Penguin and Joker almost got up from their seats, only for Riddler to put his hands on their shoulders and whisper something to them that calmed them down.
As soon as Batman, Robin, and Bodyguard got back to the Batsub and rode it back to the Batcave, they found Batwoman video-chatting with Alfred to fill him in on everything that happened. She was currently helping Gentleman Ghost lead the Narrows into leading a revolt against the Philosophers and the Alexandros forces, using stealth tactics to intercept attacks and move throughout the city to exchange information. With that good news, Bruce and the others continued their research into The Philosophers and Zeus himself, trying to weed out any suspects. They wondered why Riddler would be working with a tyrannical mayor like Maxmillian Tzavarus, who seemed to genuinely care about keeping Gotham safe. Zeus and the philosophers seemingly emerged from nowhere and never communicated online, unlike typical terrorist cells. That seemed impossible, given their insanely advanced weaponry and technology. Fortunately, the Narrows revolutionaries had managed to steal some of the weaponry from both sides, giving the Batfamily plenty to analyze. After reviewing everything, they realized that the weaponry on both sides was nearly identical. Upon closer inspection, they noticed tiny letters and numbers engraved on the triggers of every gun. After 8 hours and numerous attempts to spell everything out, they realized that it was a pattern of 39 letters, and the numbers indicated how they spelled their intended message. Once completed, it read “I’m told to protect, but I only bring harm. What am I?”. It didn’t take long to answer the riddle, but it took a bit longer for everyone else to figure out what it meant. That is, until it clicked into place for Bruce. He finally considered something that he hadn’t because he’d been so focused on the immediate danger in front of him, which had only been muddled further by his own guilt from causing Aubrey James’s death. What if all that has happened over the past month and a half is far more complex, yet simpler than it first appears? What if the entire war is nothing more than a BIG, FAT LIE?
TO BE CONTINUED...
